Development of 3D in-vitro liver cancer model, which is similar to human liver cancer

Date

Sep 28, 2017

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- Expected to contribute to the development of a new drug with the new 3D cell cultivation technology

Korea Research Institute of Bioscience & Biotechnology (President Chang Kyu-tae, KRIBB) research team successfully produce in-vitro liver cancer model which is more similar to human liver cancer. It is the development of spheroid forming unit similar to human liver cancer. In addition, the team successfully achieved result more similar to human liver cancer model than existing 2D cultivation by using the technology in the evaluation of efficacy of carcinostatis substance.

* Spheroid: cell aggregates cultivated with 3D method

The study conducted by the KRIBB research team (corresponding author: professor Jeong Cho-rok/Lim Jeong-hwa, lead author: professor Kang Hyeon-mi) was supported by Big Issue Group (BIG) project of KRIBB and was published in the online version of Scientific Reports of Nature as of Sept. 5.

* It is a large scale project to be implemented in the mid to long term of KRIBB to create the source of growth in the future. This achievement is the outcome of the research group on “the development of individualized disease model based on bio-mimicking cultivation system”.

The technology development and market for producing 3D cell model are on the rise. It is expected that the SFU technology, which is able to produce 3D liver cancer model similar to human liver cancer economically and effectively, can be used in various fields.

In particular, the market for cell cultivation is increasing rapidly with the expectation on 3D cell cultivation that could show result more similar to human body than 2D cell cultivation and advancement of stem cell field.

The existing 3D cultivation method had shortcomings as it is hard to reflect in-vivo cancer environment due to its relatively small size and scaffold to enlarge the size.

Spheroid forming unit (SFU) was developed to overcome such shortcomings by converging with 3D cultivation method. Technology transfer to companies and commercialization will be done soon.

The incidence rate liver cancer caused by various reasons is very high in Korea but effective target treatment is limited. Therefore, the need for in-vitro liver cancer model which is accurate and similar with human liver is increasing to develop a new liver cancer treatment. The technology grabs the attention as it could be a precise tool to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of cancer treatment as the 3D liver cancer model is more similar to human organ than 2D cell model.

Dr. Jeong Cho-rok of Stem Cell Research Center said “recently, research on supplementing animal test by utilizing in vitro disease models mimicking human body is very active”. “In particular technology alternative to test animals through mimicking human body is under development actively and the 3D cell model developed by our research team is expected to contribute to lowering failure rate of new drug development by bringing about more accurate result”.